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Western Digital My Book World Edition

Discontinued

Reviewed

November 2010

Pros

Simple to set up and use
Contents can be backed up to USB drives
Streams music, movies and photos
Quiet

Cons

Remote data-access feature is slow
No BitTorrent or printer server support

Where to Buy

for $185.80

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If you want to back up to an external drive wirelessly -- or you want to access your drive's contents when you're away from home, over the Internet -- you'll need a network-attached storage (NAS) drive. That might sound complicated, but experts say the Western Digital My Book World Edition makes it easy. You plug it into your Internet router, and the Western Digital icon will pop up on your computer screen (as long as you' re running recent versions of the Windows or Mac operating systems, testers say). You can drag files onto the external drive, or you can use the included backup software for Windows or the Mac OS to set up automatic backups. You can also play multimedia files on the World Edition on your HDTV through a Microsoft Xbox 360 or Sony Playstation 3.

If you're away from home, you can access the files on the Western Digital My Book World Edition over the Internet, but one expert says the process is painfully slow and only for emergencies. NAS drives work more slowly than regular external hard drives overall, because you're sending data over an Ethernet connection rather than the faster USB 2.0 or 3.0, FireWire or eSATA. For faster performance, experts recommend the Western Digital My Book 3.0 (Discontinued) desktop drive, which offers all of those faster connections but is not network capable. Western Digital has just introduced a faster NAS -- the Western Digital My Book Live -- which proves more than twice as fast as the World Edition in a read/write test at CNET. However, the new My Book Live lacks the World Edition's USB port, which is important because it allows users to add a second hard drive for more storage or to back up the content on the drive.

The Western Digital My Book World Edition comes in 1 TB (Discontinued) and 2 TB versions. The My Book World Edition II includes two hard disks in one enclosure and is offered in 2 TB and 4 TB sizes. All versions carry a three-year warranty.

RegHardware.com and TomsHardware.com conduct the most complete tests of the Western Digital My Book World Edition, comparing it with rival NAS drives. Tests at The Wall Street Journal, Macworld and ConsumerReports.org are less extensive, but still expert and very helpful. CNET tests both the My Book World Edition and the new, similar My Book Live. User reviews at Amazon.com are useful, but it can be hard to tell whether an owner is reviewing the most recent version of this drive -- an important distinction since the first generation My Book World Edition did not fare nearly as well.

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Where To Buy

Western Digital My Book World Edition 1 TB Network Attached Storage
(166 reviews) Buy new: $199.99 6 Used & new from $79.95

Our Sources

1. RegHardware.com

This British site tests the latest version of the Western Digital My Book World Edition and declares it to be a great value. Reviewer Tony Smith likes this drive better than the rival Linksys Media Hub and Apple Time Capsule. Charts show speed-test results, and Smith explains why this new version is different from the previous My Book World Edition that earned bad reviews.

Review: Western Digital My Book World Edition 1 TB NAS Box, Tony Smith, Feb. 18, 2009

2. TomsHardware.com

This test pits the Western Digital My Book World Edition against the Thecus Technology N0204 -- and both are recommended. Both offer an easy interface, "decent performance" in speed tests and remarkably low power consumption.

Review: NAS Attack: Network Storage from Thecus and Western Digital, Marcel Binder, Patrick Schmid, Oct. 9, 2009

3. The Wall Street Journal

Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal's technology critic, tests the Western Digital My Book World Edition on multiple PCs and Macs running different OS versions. He says it's "the simplest, speediest networkable hard disk I've tried."

Review: Network Hard Disk by Western Digital Offers Easy Backup, Walter S. Mossberg, April 1, 2009

4. Macworld Details/Subscribe

Simple and intuitive to use, the Western Digital My Book World Edition is an affordable way to share files over a network, Macworld says. Tester Chris Holt notes that the World Edition is now compatible with Apple's Time Machine automatic backup software.

Review: Western Digital My Book World Edition, Chris Holt, July 28, 2009

5. ConsumerReports.orgDetails/Subscribe

ConsumerReports.org includes a few NAS drives in this test, including the Western Digital My Book World Edition. Editors evaluate the drive's ease of use, heat generation, power consumption and speed, but the write-up is brief and general.

Review: Computer Backup Systems, Editors of ConsumerReports.org

6. CNET

Fast, easy to use and priced right, the Western Digital My Book World Edition is "a sound buy" for novice users, Dong Ngo says. It gets a "Good" rating of 3 stars (out of 5), but Ngo notes several drawbacks.

Review: Western Digital My Book World Edition (1 TB), Dong Ngo, Feb. 27, 2009

7. Amazon.com

The Western Digital My Book World Edition averages 3.5 stars in roughly 175 owner reviews here. Many of the bad reviews are for the previous version, but some users complain about the new version as well. Complaints vary -- one user couldn't get his other equipment to recognize the My Book World Edition, while another is disappointed that he can't hook it directly into his computer via USB.

Review: Western Digital My Book World Edition 1 TB Network Attached Storage WDH1NC10000N (White), Contributors to Amazon.com

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Western Digital My Book World Edition Review

Western Digital My Book World Edition